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Technology Stocks : BAY Ntwks (under House) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (5867)	5/14/1998 11:45:00 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6980

Problems with upgrade to Gigabit Ethernet - Bay has had problems in pursuading companies to upgrade to Gigabit Ethernet. This article from PC Week may explain why some administrators are reluctant to make the upgrade. Thursday, May 14 1998 1 Distance Restrictions for Gigabit Ethernet from PC Week Restrictions slow Gigabit Ethernet By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online 11.07.97 6:00 pm ET The multimode fiber-optic cable installed in corporate backbones may fetter those corporations' ability to use Gigabit Ethernet over long distances. The next-generation networking technology is specified by the 802.3z standard to be able to travel 260 meters on typical 62.5-micron fiber or 440 meters on less common 50-micron fiber. But because light splits when sending data over fiber, and fiber quality varies, data is delayed. The delays affect an unknown percentage of installed multimode fiber. In addition, there's no way to tell which fiber is affected, even within a single bundle of fiber, according to officials at the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, which is responsible for the 802.3z standard. In response to the problems, the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance is expected to change the 802.3z standard this week to address distance limitations of the cabling, sources at the Cupertino, Calif., orgzation said. The standard is expected to be modified to dictate a maximum throughput limit of 100 meters and will then be amended as fixes become available, said the sources. The GEA group examining the problem will officially publish its recommendation next week, although sources say the final course of action will not be officially decided until later. The fiber distance restriction wreaks havoc particularly on users planning upgrades to a 1G-bps wide-area backbone. "On multimode, 100 meters is cutting it real short," said Frank Ricci, director of technical services at InterSignal, an Internet service provider in Montreal. "As a user, you're playing with fire if you don't have everything about upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet qualified, including cabling." The limitation could warrant a re-evaluation of Gigabit Ethernet's role as a backbone technology, said Sam Alunni, an analyst at Sterling Research, in Framingham, Mass. "Administrators have planned for this upgrade, so I don't think you'll see them just up and switch to ATM," Alunni said. "But this is a serious problem, and it will rattle those [upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet]. It plants quite a bit of fear, uncertainty and doubt." User John Ruhl is testing Gigabit Ethernet at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Aberdeen, Md. "We don't have the assets to continually test and monitor the performance of this stuff," said Ruhl, a strategic planner at Aberdeen's Test Center. "So there is a concern there. Forty to 50 percent of our links are fairly long runs." Send E-mail to PC Week \| Copyright notice

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (5867)	5/15/1998 12:32:00 AM
From: drums	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6980

IMHO - you are seriously fishing on this one. Ericsson's home base is there but Bay has had a very capable team in the Norwegian states and a lot of activity for some time now. Bay and Ericsson have collaborated on other deals in the past. I don't think this announcement fits into any acquisition scenario. Sorry if I'm disappointing anyone...